One of our customers made a very nice setup to dry extruded pipe using Ring Blade Air Wipes manufactured by Nex Flow Air Products Corp. Very easy to switch out one Air Wipe diameter with another size, as the picture shows to clean and dry different diameters of pipe.
Nex Flow Ring Blade air wipes are an efficient way to clean and dry extruded materials. The air wipes utilize the Coanda effect to entrain along with the compressed air used to amplify airflow (converting energy lost as pressure drops and noise into useful energy) to impinge the extruded part that is passed through the unit.
The air exiting the 360 circular ring from the Ring Vac exists at a 30-degree angle and concentrates the blow-off energy to the part. This circular 360-degree ring consists of two half-circles mated together to make the full circle. As it is two pieces connected together, the unit can be opened to allow any bubble or material jam from the extruded art to be passed through during the extrusion process.
Due to the high efficiency and concentrated flow, very often, a smaller number of Ring Blade air wipes are required for an application when compared to existing old-style air wipes. Where in the past you needed three, you can often only need two Ring blade air wipes.
It is good practice to have the internal diameter close to but not equal to the largest outside dimension of the extruded part. This is because the airflow fans out the further you are from the air wipe. In this way, you get maximum point force for blow-off. This is why you have several different sizes of Ring blade air wipes set up to interchange easily for different diameters of the pipe being produced.
The video shows cylindrical pipe, but the Ring blade air wipes are also effective on odd shapes. They are used in applications such as extruded window profiles and EPDM rubber trim extruded for the automotive industry. Highly efficient in performance, energy, and productivity for many extrusion applications.
